Supreme Court Asks UP Govt To Provide Medical & Enquiry Reports On Gangster-Politician Mukhtar Ansari's Death To His Son

The Supreme Court today asked Uttar Pradesh authorities to furnish copies of medical and enquiry reports pertaining to the death of gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari to his son Umar Ansari.

The matter was before a bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti, which upon hearing Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal (for Umar Ansari), asked Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj (for UP) to supply to the petitioner copies of all relevant reports pertaining to Mukhtar Ansari's death. The UP government was given 2 weeks' time to do the needful.

To recap, the instant petition was filed by Umar Ansari seeking his father Mukhtar Ansari's transfer to any jail outside UP, as he apprehended harm to the latter while in custody. In March, 2024, Mukhtar Ansari reportedly died in the UP jail where he was lodged due to cardiac arrest. In July, Umar Ansari alleged that his father was poisoned in jail and died due to withholding of requisite medical treatment.

During today's hearing, Sibal informed that as per State of UP's affidavit, there is a magisterial report and a judiciary enquiry report pertaining to Mukhtar Ansari's death. But, Umar Ansari does not have access to a copy of the same. Accordingly, the Court passed its order.

Background

Mukhtar Ansari was an accused in the case involving the murder of BJP leader Krishnanand Rai and various other cases. In 2021, the Supreme Court allowed a petition filed by the State of UP to transfer him to a jail in UP from a jail in Punjab.

In 2023, the present writ petition came to be filed by Umar Ansari under Article 32 of the Constitution seeking Mukhtar Ansari's transfer to any jail outside UP. It was alleged that his family members had been targets of persecution by the State and that he received reliable information that his father's life was in grave danger as there was a conspiracy afoot involving people within the state establishment to assassinate him in Banda jail.

The plea stated that out of all persons accused in the murder, 4 had already been murdered. It pointed out the cases of 1) Shahnawaz, an undertrial who was killed in December 2019, in the course of being produced before court; 2) Atiq Ahmed and his brother Khalid Azim, who were shot dead in April 2023 while being escorted by police officers for a routine medical check-up; (3) Meraj Ahmad, one of the co-accused with Ansari in a case under MCOCA, who was shot dead inside a high-security barrack of Chitrakoot District Jail, UP in May, 2021.

Per contra, state of UP maintained that no harm will be caused to Mukhtar Ansari in jail.

On March 28, 2024, Mukhtar Ansari reportedly died on account of a cardiac arrest, while undergoing a sentence of life imprisonment. In the counter-affidavit, State of UP stated that upon post-mortem, a panel of doctors concluded that Mukhtar Ansari died due to cardiac arrest.

Case Title: UMAR ANSARI Versus THE STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH AND ORS., W.P.(Crl.) No. 629/2023

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